Monday, May 21, 2007

The Man Who Would Have His Finger on The Button

Several key Republican sources tell HOH that McCain in fact told Cornyn to “f--- off” during a last-minute meeting Thursday to wrap up details of the then soon-to-be-announced bipartisan immigration agreement. Apparently, Cornyn — the conservative stalwart who has been negotiating with fellow Senators for weeks on the deal — was making a final push for some of his provisions when McCain (who has been on the campaign trail for the past five weeks) jumped in to cut him off.

Just to get warmed up, our sources say McCain charged Cornyn with making a “chickens--t” argument to try to sink the delicate immigration package, and urged him to leave the room. (Notably, the room was the ceremonial presidential area off the Senate Chamber where some 40 people were huddling, including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and a handful of other Democratic and Republican Senators.)

No wallflower himself, Cornyn struck back, charging McCain with “trying to parachute in” to the negotiations at the 11th hour to try to be a player in a deal of which he had little or no part. Then, according to several observers, things turned really ugly.

McCain turned to Cornyn and said: “F--- you. I know more about this issue than anyone here in the room.”